This week while I was in St. George for meetings I went to look at a litter of French Brittany puppies for sale. My friend that I bought Jake from had told me that his hunting buddy had a litter of French Brittanies. I’m a sucker for puppies of any kind but especially Britts and Shorthairs. This litter had 3 males (Orange/White, Black/White and a rare Liver Tri-Color) and 2 females (Tri-Color and Black/White). I am hoping to find a dog that is smaller, more mild-mannered and softer for easier training. Mostly so my children can have a positive experience with raising a dog. Currently they are all pretty much scared of Jake because of his hyper nature and his size.

The main problem is how to talk my wife into letting me buy two puppies because I still have my heart set on a Liver Female GSP puppy. But, my kids are wanting the smaller more biddable French Brittany. The puppy that I liked the best was the the orange and white male. He seemed to be pretty mellow and the most cuddly people lover of the bunch. The owner of the litter has named him Eeyore because of his easy-going nature. The puppies are only 4 weeks right now, so we’ll go back for a visit in a couple weeks and see what their personalities are like.

Here is a really good website I found for those people who are interested in buying a French Brittany Spaniel.

One of my new neighbors is Russ Peterson who owns and operates Rooster Valley Pheasants, a private hunting club not 1/4 mile down the road from our new home. Russ has at his disposal over 1000 acres of prime Pheasant and Chukar habitat. He was kind enough to give me a tour of his hunting lodge and pheasant hatchery. In the picture above you’ll see a few of the 2500 2-week-old phesant chicks that he is raising for the upcoming hunting season. He says each year they burn through between 5-6K birds. Looks like me and Jake won’t have to look far for good training grounds with plenty of birds to chase.

Russ is also a good dog trainer and a big fan of German Shorthairs. While touring his facility we got a chance to sneak a peek at a new litter of 7 beautiful Shorthair puppies that were whelped just the previous evening. It looks to be a good litter with 3 liver females, 3 liver males and a white and liver female. I’ll keep an eye on them over the next few weeks and hopefully if I be real good my wife will let me bring one home. I’ve been wanting to find Jake a girl-friend, but I am having a hard time convincing my wife that I need another dog. She thinks one is too many. I hope to build nice kennels off of the shop at our new house in Annabella, UT.

Jake has been staying with his brother Biff this last few weeks as we are looking for a new home. The rental home we are staying in is not big enough for pets especially not for a rowdy like Jake. So he is enjoying some time with his Brother Biff. My friend John Jacks has been kind enough to agree to boarding Jake until we find a new home to purchase. The home we currently are looking at would be a great home for Jake. There is plenty of room for dog kennels and a big yard with room to roam. The bonus of the property is the large bird barn that will give me room to raise pheasant and chukars for training Jake. We have made an offer on the home and hope to close by the end of June. We try to visit Jake at least once a week so he doesn’t forget who we are.

Today we made our first visit to see the litter of pups that we are looking at. We have pick of the litter which seems to make the decision harder – not easier. We told them we were looking for the easiest going, most mild-mannered pup in the litter. The pup pictured above is the one they claim is perfect for us. He is a good looking male, liver and white with a little white patch on his nose. He took to my kids and seemed to have a good nature about him. We will go back again next week and see if we still feel good about him.

One of the biggest decisions a new dog owner faces is that of selecting a proper and respectable name for the new pup. After having let my 3 year old choose our last dogs name, this time I intend to take the matter into my own hands. As the past few weeks have rolled by I have pondered on the possibilities of a solid dog name. The first thing I had to decide was if I was getting a male or a female. At this point I am leaning largely towards getting a male this time. My wife doesn’t think having a litter or two of our own sounds like much fun at all so a female is out for now. So how do you narrow it down?

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On my 9th birthday in 1984 my family relocated to the country. I am not exactly sure why, but it was a wonderful thing for me. I very much enjoyed the freedom of hiking, hunting and fishing right out the front door. I immediately found a peace there in the outdoors that I wasn’t finding in the city at little league practice and night games with my pals. Every single day in the country was a new adventure and a learning experience for me. Those were magical times for me tracking game in the snow, building lean-tos in the woods and listening to the haunting cry of coyotes in the milky moments of dusk. The only thing missing was man’s best friend.

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